1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a ribbon assembly for forming a decorative bow of the type applied to wrapped gifts for decorative purposes.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It was known in the art to provide a decorative ribbon with a drawstring connected loosely to the ribbon at points along its length. The drawstring was secured to the ribbon at one end so that a user of the ribbon could draw the ribbon into a number of arcuate loops by pulling on the drawstring. This arrangement was advantageous because the ribbon could be packed flat, thus greatly facilitating and reducing the costs of storage and transport of the ribbon-drawstring assemblies, as compared with pre-formed bows which were relatively bulky and needed to be packed in crush-proof containers.
However, the known assemblies suffered from the disadvantage that, on pulling the drawstring, the ribbon tended to fold itself into loops which were all aligned in one vertical plane, thus forming a fan shape. This was inconvenient to the user who normally desired the bow to be arranged in a more decorative rosette or pompon form. This also necessitated the user having to pull on the individual loops to rotate them laterally and rearrange them so that the loops were spaced angularly around a central axis of the bow. Apart from being time-consuming, this manipulation presented the risk of the bow becoming torn, damaged and soiled.
In an attempt to overcome such disadvantages, I proposed, in my previous U.S. Pat. No. 4,515,837, a bow-forming ribbon which comprised a decorative, flexible ribbon, a plurality of relatively stiff retainers or clips spaced apart lengthwise of the ribbon and oriented generally transversely across the ribbon at different angles with respect to the transverse direction, and a drawstring running freely through the successive inclined clips alongside the ribbon.
As the bow of my previous patent was being formed by pulling on the drawstring, each clip tended to seat itself on the bow loop that was being formed immediately adjacent thereto in an angularly skewed orientation relative to the latter, and tended to skew each loop of the bow relative to the loop beneath, so that the loops of the bow were arranged in angularly-spaced rosette or pompon-like form. Each clip was inclined at an angle opposite to that of the preceding clip.
Although generally satisfactory for its intended purpose, experience has shown that my previously patented bow was disadvantageous in that it was costly to manufacture and assemble. It required multiple clips to be made, positioned on the ribbon and, of course, the drawstring had to be routed successively through each clip. This involved a great deal of extra cost, both in manufacture and assembly.
Other patents of which I am aware include U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,841,905; 2,845,736; 2,849,821; 3,010,236; 3,030,719; 3,632,464; 3,637,455; 3,954,212; 4,329,382; 4,449,652 and 4,476,168; and French Patent No. 1,200,982.